Part I The Egg
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Chapter I.—The Nest.—The Microscope and Telescope—Terror caused by Insects—Death-watch—Life-boat of Eggs—The Water Beetle—Floating Ark of Eggs—The Gnat—her difficulties—her Egg-raft—The Sand-boring Wasp—Towers of rubbish—Captive Caterpillars—Wood-boring Bee—An Insect Nursery—Escape of the young—Tapestry Bee—A Nest lined with Poppy-flower Petals—Enchanted Leaf-tubes—The spell broken—The Insect Sorcerer—Nest of Down made by a Moth—The Lackey Moth—The Ichneumons—Their usefulness
Chapter II.—Structure and contents of the Egg.—Its Shape—Remarkable mistake about an Insect—The Lace-wing Fly—Eggs carved on their surface—Colours of Eggs—Changes of Colour—Eggs of the Garden Spider—Pretty Nests—Anatomy of the Egg—Contents of the Egg
Chapter III.—Life begins in the Egg.—Spring Time—Influence of Heat and Cold—Eggs resist great Cold—The time of Hatching—Escape of the new Creature—Connexion between Plants and Insects—Changes in the Egg—A Spider’s Mother’s love—Experiment with two Spiders—Anecdote of an Earwig—Enormous number of Eggs of different Insects